Balanced Effort Leads Yale To 65-55 Win Over Colgate

Michael Sands. (photo by Sam Rubin '95, Yale Sports Publicity)

Nov 17, 2009

Ten Different Players Score As Bulldogs Earn NIT Season
Tip-Off Win

STORRS, Conn. - Yale got significant contributions from
everybody that played in Tuesday's 65-55 victory over Colgate. It
was certainly much needed. One night after getting outrebounded by
nearly 20 in a loss to Hofstra, the Bulldogs were forced to play
without 6-10 starting center Paul Nelson, who missed the game with
an injured ankle. It didn't prove to be a problem. Yale dominated
the boards against the Red Raiders en route to the win on the
second day of the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off at
Gampel Pavilion.

Michael Sands grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, despite picking
up two early fouls. Rhett Anderson and Jordan Gibson both
contributed six rebounds.

"With Paul out, I really felt like I had to step up my
rebounding," said Sands, who scored all seven of his points and had
nine rebounds after the intermission. "In the second half, I just
tried to not use my body as much."

Alex Zampier paced the Bulldogs (1-2) with 16 points. Gibson
added 14, and Reggie Willhite, who made his first career start,
chipped in with seven. All 10 players that saw time scored.

"Everybody really stepped up and made a contribution," said
Gibson, who was 5-of-9 from the field and made all four of his free
throws.

Gibson, who has reached double figures in all three games this
season, scored 10 of his points in the first half.

"Jordan had a great game," said James Jones, The Joel E. Smilow,
Class of 1954 Head Coach of Men's Basketball. "He kept us in the
game in the first half."

Yale trailed 30-28 at halftime but held the Raiders scoreless
for nearly seven minutes and scored 12 straight points to start the
second half.

Three consecutive three-pointers pulled Colgate back within one,
40-39, but the Bulldogs answered with an 11-2 run, capped by
Willhite's layup, to regain control.

Colgate never got closer than six the rest of the way as Porter
Braswell made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:01 to seal the
victory.

"At halftime we talked about driving the basketball more," Jones
said. "We relied too much on outside shots in the first half."

Kyle Roemer made five three-pointers and led Colgate (0-2) with
18 points. Yaw Gyawu had 12 points and Mike Venezia scored 11. Yale
held the Raiders to 36.4 percent from the field in the second half.

Yale trailed by as many as eight points in the first half, but
outscored Colgate 6-3 over the final 3:16 to cut the deficit to
30-28 at the break.

The Bulldogs play their home opener on Saturday night against
Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. Yale then will play two more games in the NIT
next Monday and Tuesday. The site and opponents for those games
will be determined on a conference call on Wednesday morning.

"The NIT is a great experience for a young team," Jones said.
"We need games to try and figure things out."